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Seeking Heights Arc
The Seeking Heights Arc is the twenty-ninth story arc in the series and the sixth in the World Class Saga. With the line Takamura drew in mind, Makunouchi Ippo continues trying to evolve with his new weapon, meanwhile Aoki Masaru creates his own new weapon for his upcoming matches, which ends up becoming extremely effective. Ippo is then banned from the Kamogawa Boxing Gym for one month in order to prevent him from putting on gloves and focus on recovering. After the one month ban, Ippo continues training his New Dempsey Roll and watches Nagumo Ryuji's world title match as it comes to a complete halt. After the comeback matches of his gymmates, he trains one last time along Takamura, who keeps giving the message of extraordinary heights that only those worth can see. Summary The Unified Champion's Parade The Fists of a Prodigy The Way for the New Dempsey Roll Fight Together to the Sloppy Bitter End Undercards: Kimura Tatsuya's & Aoki Masaru's Matches - The Frog's New Weapon Main Event: JBC Lightweight Title Match - Ōshima Sōshi VS. Iga Shinobu The One Month Ban After banning Ippo for one month from the gym and boxing, Kamogawa heads to the beach to meet Nekota. At Nekota's beach house, he asks Nekota advice on being punch drunk, and how to handle Ippo. Nekota tells him about his past, and the troubles he went through. Kamogawa feels that even though it is just a suspicion that Ippo might be punch drunk, he feels that he should let Ippo box again. Nekota disagrees and thinks Kamogawa should wait on it so Ippo doesn't have any regrets. Kamogawa decided to wait till the end of summer before he decides anything, but if he see that Ippo is punch drunk he will force him to retire. As an order by Kamgoawa, Itagaki is to stop Ippo from training, since his one month ban would mean nothing if he continues to train. Ippo has a hard time not doing anything, especially since he wants to show Kamgoawa the New Dempsey Roll before the end of the summer. He wishes that there is some magical means to help him train without training. Itagaki doesn't think there is any magic like that, but Mari, who stops on by claims she does. Ippo takes her to a local sports store for it. While the sales clerk tries to get Ippo to buy expensive training equipment, Mari finds the magic item for Ippo. Mari tells him to put it on his wrist and ankles, since it was something Sendō used in the past to help him gain his dashing ability. Ippo thanks her, and heads to Yamaguchi to see on how to use them. She mentions if Ippo can't bring himself to sit still and rest up, then he needs to move slowly with no sudden changes in directions, slowly with everything that he does. Ippo starts training by moving slowly while wearing the weights. When Aoki, Kimura, and Takamura hear from Itagaki that Ippo's been bowling instead of training, they wonder if it is true. They head to the Funa Bowl, where they find Ippo bowling with Kumi. They see Ippo bowling really slowly, and throwing a gutter ball. Shocked, they check Ippo's score card and find out he been throwing a lot of gutter balls. Itagaki realises Ippo used his other hand, when Takamura notices Ippo's weights on his hands. Takamura tells Aoki to try one of them on. Aoki tries them on his arms and legs, and notices how heavy it is. Aoki asks what Ippo's bowling ball weight is, and Ippo mentions it is the heaviest (16 pounds.) Takamura notes why Ippo is bowling since the range of motion is similar to the build up to the New Dempsey Roll. Ippo gets mad at Takamura for suggesting that he is broken, but since he got some free time he is putting it to good use. He plans on finishing the New Dempsey Roll, then return to the gym. Ippo continues to walk and do every little thing slowly while wearing the weights over the next few weeks. Yamaguchi arrives at Funa Bowl, and notices it seems like they are having a bowling tournament with his friends. Takamura thinks she is her to see him, which surprises Itagaki and Kimura. Takamura mentions that they promised to do it, where Yamaguchi mention he kept on visiting her and she ended up promising him on the condition that he has to beg for it. Takamura can't do it because of his pride. Yamaguchi notices it takes a lot of strength and rock solid stability to bowl with one leg in the air. She thinks Ippo's levelled up his natural born strength, and balancing from working on the fishing boat, where it is a fusion of power and flexibility. The Ban is Over For a final tuning before Nagumo Ryuji's world title match, he goes to Kawahara Boxing Gym to spar with Miyata. Miyata doesn't want to wear any headgear for the spar, and Nagumo doesn't want to either. The spar starts and Miyata tries to land a counter but Nagumo slipped away and killed the impact. Nagumo starts to use his speed, and was able to counter Miyata. Miyata Senior notes that Nagumi favors his left. Nagumi throws a left again and Miyata looks to counter it. Miyata Senior stops the spar. The reporters think Nagumo was able to push Miyata the whole time, and think Nagumo can take on the world. When they ask Miyata for his impressions, he tells them that he admits Nagumo is strong. Miyata mentions that Nagumo's speed is a real threat, and his rhythm is hard to read. He doesn't think the World Champion will enjoy that fight. Ippo's month of exile of Kamogawa Boxing Gym and boxing is over. Ippo heads back to Kamogawa Boxing Gym and greets everyone after his long absents. Kamogawa Genji tells Ippo to take off his weights. This is the first time Ippo's taken the weights off except to bathe, and he wonders if it will have any effect, or different. As he throws a few punches, Ippo think his body feel lighter, but nothing dramatically different. After Kamogawa yelling at him to hurry up, Ippo start to run up some steps, however not being use to the weight being off of him he falls down instead. Kamogawa precedes to run Ippo threw some tests to see if Ippo is punch drunk, but Ippo passes them. Lastly, he has Ippo get into the ring to as a final test. During the mitt training, the effect of wearing weights and bowling are starting to show themselves where Ippo is able to pivot on both of his leg and throw strong punches in a high and low position. Ippo is rotating punches between left and right and from high to low pounding Kamogawa in the corner until Takamura Mamoru stops him. Takamura asks the verdict, and Kamogawa mentions Ippo's passed. Everyone celebrates that Ippo passed. Ippo thanks Kamogawa, but Kamogawa warns him not to be too happy. Someone suspected of being Punch Drunk won't return to the ring that easily, and he still got his eye on him. Ippo asks if he can return to boxing after keeping his promise of not practice boxing for 1 month. Kamogawa gives the okay. Itagaki, Aoki, and Kimura look at Takamura for suggesting Ippo might be broken, which angers Takamura and he chases them. Kimura and Aoki mentions this is the reason why he can't get any girlfriends, not even Yamaguchi Tomoko. After hearing Yamaguchi's name, Takamura stops and he does a weird dance, suggesting he slept with her. Itagaki wonders if that means he begged her for it, but Takamura mentions his pride will never allow that. Aoki and Kimura realised it was only in his mind, but Takamura tells them it is going to happen. He used to see her regularly, but haven't for sometime now in order to make her think about him. Takamura takes off his clothes, and mentions what he plans to do with her. Aoki and Kimura make fun of him, which causes Takamura to chase after them naked. After watching it all, Ippo finally feels like he is really back now. Ippo's at Umezawa and he still practice drawing a straight lines. Umezawa wonder what those squiggly lines were that he drew before. Ippo thinks it must have been lingering damage from the fight, where his head would hurt and he would feel weak all of a sudden. Umezawa tells Ippo that he was worried Ippo was Punch Drunk since he get hit a lot. Ippo apologizes for it. Umezawa talks to Ippo about it more and discusses being punch drunk. Ippo mentions he researched Punch Drunk a lot since he was afraid he really might be broken, but at the same time he realized how much he really loved boxing. Umezawa starts remembering his past where he bullied Ippo, while Ippo continues to be glad Kamogawa Genji let him come back. While motivated, Ippo ends up causing an accident spilling over ink on some finished pages. The next day, Ippo starts training for the first time in a month with everyone He easily over takes them while running with weights on. Training the New Dempsey Roll Kumi is waiting at Kawai Hospital for Ippo. She asks Ippo has his CT Scans went, and he mentions everything looks normal. Kumi thinks Ippo's health and quality of life are important, but she really enjoyed her time with Ippo while bowling and now disappointed that he is gone back to boxing. She begins to wonder about Ippo's future as a boxer and how far he will go, and worries about him breaking in the future. Ippo gives his results to Kamogawa, but Kamogawa mentions CT scans can miss things, where they should be careful in spite of it since Ippo's potential to end up Punch Drunk is undeniable. Kamogawa is going to see Yamaguchi] to give her his thanks and some food, but he is carrying a huge back pack on him. Kamogawa tells Yagi he will be gone for a while, and not to let Ippo spar while he is away. Outside of Yamaguchi Chiropractic, Kamogawa finds a naked Takamura getting thrown out a window that ends up hitting him. Takamura (while naked) asks what ups to Kamogawa, while Kamogawa yells at him, and he wonders what is going on. In the background, sires can be heard, where Takamura starts taking off running after Tomoko called the cops. Kamogawa also runs away since he can't let her seem him like this. Kamogawa heads to Nekota's to train. Nekota notes Kamogawa is pretty beat up, and wonder if he needs beat up body like that since he is an old man. Kamogawa disagrees since he is young enough, but mentions he got to keep going because Ippo's efforts would all be wasted if he doesn't. He mentions old folk shouldn't drag young people down. Kamogawa praises young people, and mentions the future belongs to them. He notes how boxing has changed and evolved every passing day thanks to the effort of the young, and he wonders what they will come up with in the future. The next day, while gathering food, Nekota remembers when Kamogawa first came to his place after finding Takamura. He told Nekota that his usual mitt techniques won't cut it with him, and his blood is boiling. Nekota notes that even when sunflowers wither and die, they leave a lot of seeds behind. He is thinks Kamogawa is doing the same. Kamogawa continues training. Ippo's practicing the New Dempsey Roll on the sandbag. Aoki notes the marks on the sandbag are diagonal angles all over the place. Itagaki thinks it seems hard to dodge, and it will be hard ot hold mitts for them. They wonder where the coach is, when Yagi (with tickets) tells Ippo he needs to leave or he will be late. Ippo takes off, while Yagi mentions they got tickets for ringside seat as a thank you for the spar. Nagumo Ryuji's World Title Match Ippo finds himself sitting next to Miyata. Miyata's not really thrilled about it, while Ippo images about what might have been if they fought in an official match. Ippo thought Miyata would be able to throw a cross cross counter with very little space against him, where he would lose. He ends up waking up in the fantasy after he lost. Miyata wonders what Ippo is doing, only to find him trying to wave at the camera at Kamogawa Boxing Gym member, which Miyata finds annoying. Takamura, Miyata's father, Kawahara coach, Kida, Aoki, Kimura, and Itagaki all watch the fight. Aoki and Kimura are mad that Nagumo is using Ippo and Miyata to help the match, while Miyata wants Ippo to sit down since he is drawing attention to them. While Nagumo enters the arena, Ippo mentions that he read in a magazine that Nagumo beat him in a spar too, and thinks they are alike, but didn't go down like him. Now angry, Miyata asks Ippo what happened in his spar, and ask him if he really went down to "that". Ippo thinks Miyata is a little weird today, where he always had a short fuse, but he is overreacting to everything. He mentions both of them were beaten by Nagumo, and it is rude to refer to someone older as "that". Ippo wants to get along with Miyata since they don't have a match in the works anymore. Miayta is surprised that Ippo fought back for once, but mentions he doesn't intend on being friendly with Ippo. He asks if "that" really beat him. The fight begins. Nagumo uses his speed right from the start, and the World Champion can't keep up. Ippo notices the Champion is trying to do something, and wonders if he is trying to counter with a Right after Nagumo's two left. While the fight is going, Miyata is tapping out Nagumo's timing. The Champion is getting use to Nagumo's punches and start to counter attack with punches, but Nagumo lands a counter punch on him instead. He lured him in, and then threw a sharp compact left hook. The Champion pushes in again not fearing the counter. The Champion attacks and Nagumo goes down. Ippo wonders if Miyata held back during their spar. Miyata once again asks if Ippo really lost to Nagumo. Ippo mention he really did knock him down, where he couldn't keep up with his speed, and landed two solid lefts on him. Nagumo stands up and takes a fighting pose, and throws punches at the Champion, but Nagumo can't stand up to him gets hit instead. Nagumo ends up clinching to buy time. The ref breaks it up fast. Nagumo is able to land some lefts, but they don't effect the Champion. Miyata mentions that it was clear as soon as they matched up that Nagumo might be unpredictable, but he's clearly not World Class. He had to stop himself from getting too into it. If he had fought seriously, he would have probably injured him and ruined his World title shots. So he held back instead. Miyata just couldn't believe Ippo could go down to "that". Ippo thinks that Nagumo has a chance, but Miyata tells Ippo didn't he learn from his last match that the World Stage isn't easy. The Champion continues hitting Nagumo more and more. The Ref finally moves in and stops the match. Nagumo loses the match. After the match, Ippo asks Miyata if he wants to go out for drinks, but Miyata turns him down since he doesn't intend on being friendly with him. As he leaves, Miyata asks him if he is broken. Miyata asks Ippo if he is broken, and Ippo somewhat happy that he cares like his gym-mates. Ippo updates Miyata about his status. He tells Miyata that he is almost ready for his comeback match for the next stage. Miyata leaves disappointed, but he knows Ippo is talking about the next stage of the Dempsey Roll. Kamogawa Boxing Gym's Comeback Matches Itagaki, Aoki, and Kimura join him to prepare for their upcoming comeback matches. Kimura's going threw harsh weight control for it, where Aoki mentions he needs to move up to lightweight. Ippo plans to cheer Kimura on, while Aoki and Itagaki are excited for their comebacks fights. The day of the match, Itagaki wins his match in decision. During Kimura's match, he is having a tough time during the 5th round he starts clinching a lot. The fight ends in a draw. As Aoki's match is about to start, Takamura believes it will be even worse. The bell rings, Aoki starts with a Frog Punch motion. Aoki ducks the opponent's punch setting up the Frog Punch, but the opponent show signs of blocking it. Takamura thinks this match will go to decision since Aoki's main weapon is pretty known at this point, where the opponent just needs to calmly keep their guard when they expect it. Once it has been block, all that is left is a "mud wrestling" match. The opponent continues to block and wait for Aoki's Frog Punch, but Aoki doesn't throw it. Ippo realises Aoki is throwing the Bell Horn Punch, which is able to land on the opponent. Aoki wins by KO. While Aoki celebrates his win, Ippo realises he wants to get back into the ring. Takamura knows what Ippo's thinking, and mention that he gave up the title believing that he graduated from Japan, but then he couldn't do much at the World level. He wonder why Ippo wants to head back into the ring, or what he wants to do since he is in an awkward place. Ippo isn't clear on what he is after, but he wants to show the new Dempsey Roll for the Coach. Ippo feels that after he spent all the time in he spent preparing his body for it, and now it is finally starting to bear fruit, where he wants Kamogawa to see it in the ring. Ippo feels by showing the new Dempsey Roll, it will help him move forward and be the start of something. Takamura tells him to go for it, but not to disappoint him. Last Training Before the Showdown Ippo asks Takamura while they roadwork if Takamura feels lonely, as Takamura's expression gets serious he explains that those worth climb to the top, an extraordinary view only those who also have made it that far can see, saying to Ippo to not call the place they all aim for something like lonely. Category:Story Arcs Category:World Class Saga Arcs